


It Started Out With a Cat

by cinnamon_roll123



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, BAMF Leia Organa, Cat BB-8, College Football, Dean Leia Organa, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gay Poe Dameron, Han Solo Lives, House Party, I Don't Even Know, Kylo Ren Angst, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo Ren and Rey Are Not Related, Maybe - Freeform, Mentioned Luke Skywalker, Minor Leia Organa/Han Solo, Multi, Oblivious Finn, Parents Han and Leia, Poe Dameron/Finn Fluff, Professor Han Solo, Professor Luke Skywalker, Protective Poe Dameron, Rating May Change, Rating: PG13, Rey Kenobi, Sitcom, Student Finn, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Virgin Finn, Virgin Kylo Ren
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-06-08 15:19:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6860503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamon_roll123/pseuds/cinnamon_roll123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For Finn, Rey and Poe, it's their first time out in the real world. Stressful classes, confusing roommates, scary professors, wild parties, crazy cats: just your average day in college. </p><p>College AU of TFA featuring all your faves. This has probably already been done but idc. This is cheesy af be warned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Cat

Chapter 1

He was nervous. Of course, he was. It was his first day of college, it was fine to be nervous. It was normal. Everyone was nervous. Nobody looked as nervous as he felt, though, walking up the stairs and along the corridor. He hauled a suitcase behind him with a box of stuff under his arm and a key in his hand.

When he reached his room, he stood there at the door for a second, staring at the four numbers on the wooden door in front of him. 2187.

He took a deep breath in and caught the scent of cologne and beer. That was a slight comfort to him, it was similar to the old rooms back at the academy. Boy, was he glad to finally get out of there! Training, day in, day out, no real friends, awful teachers...

But this was going to be different. College would be better. He could finally express himself and live the life he'd always dreamed of.

Before he could get the key into the door, it swung open and something came charging out, knocking his legs out from under him and he fell to the ground.

"BB!" A voice came from above him. "Dammit, get back here! Oh hey, sorry about that!"

He looked up and saw someone standing over him, holding out a hand with a sheepish grin on his face. He took his hand and the other boy pulled him up to his feet.

"Oh jeez, your stuff. I'm so sorry about this, BB-8... Really got a mind of its own that animal."  
He stood awkwardly by the door while the boy picked up all of his scattered CDs and books.

Poe picked up a CD with a smile of recognition, "Hey, you have Bowie, nice one."  
This jolted him out of his daze.

"Oh, yeah! Great album!"

Then they were inside the room with all possessions neatly arranged on the spare bed.

"Nice to meet you, by the way. My name's Poe. Poe Dameron." He said, holding out a hand which was hesitantly shaken.  
"I'm um... F... F..." He stuttered.

"Finn?" Poe suggested.

"Well, not exactly, but-"

"I'm gonna call you Finn."  
Finn found himself smiling. Something about Poe just seemed to draw him to him and feel instantly at ease. "Nice to meet you."

"You too, buddy. Now how about we go look for my cat, huh?"  
"Alright."

They ran around from room to room, yelling after the cat. Then Finn spotted him through a window, jumping around in the quad, chasing his own tail.

"There he is!"

Poe also found his pet and tore down the stairs. When Finn caught up with him, he was holding the white and ginger cat in his arms.

"Thanks so much for helping me find the little guy." Poe beamed.  
"No problem."

"You wanna pet him?"

Finn stretched out a hand nervously towards the cat and it nuzzled against his hand and purred.  
"Hey, looks like he likes you."  
"I guess so."

They smiled at each other for a moment until suddenly someone bumped into Poe hard as they ran past and yelled "fag".

Finn saw the rage and hurt in his face well up as he handed BB-8 over to him.  
"I'll see you later, Finn. I gotta take care of something. Just keep BB in the room if you can. Thanks."

Then he ran off after the person who'd yelled at him, who'd joined a group of boys, all broad-shouldered and wearing varsity jackets. Finn watched as they started to argue and then some ran away, pursued by Poe.

Looking on, perplexed, Finn then made his way obediently back up to the room.

On his way up the dorm building steps, BB-8 wriggled in his arms and he accidentally stepped on something. He looked down to see it was the black hem of a coat worn by a scowling figure sitting on the ground with a guitar. He was wearing all black, with a long black coat and dark hair to his shoulders.

"Oh, sorry!" Finn smiled apologetically at the boy.

He didn't respond, only glared.

Finn secured his hold on Poe's cat and headed back into the dorm building.

Finn placed BB-8 down on the floor and shut the door behind him. After unpacking a few clothes and books, everything he had, he flopped down onto his bed.

Why had that horrible word been yelled at Poe? People back at the academy had said about boys who liked other boys. Did Poe like boys? Did Poe like him? Nobody had ever liked him before, nobody as nice as Poe...

Finn felt his face get hot. Then he heard an excited squeak from BB-8 and a second later Poe came bursting through the door. He was panting and sweating and there was blood on his face.

Finn jumped to his feet. BB-8 pushed the door shut with his nose and nuzzled against Poe's legs.

"Are you alright man?" Finn asked.  
"My head, I-"  
"Come here, sit down."

Poe sat down on his bed. Finn ran quickly to the bathroom and came back with a towel, accidentally shutting BB-8 into the bathroom on his way. He sat down beside Poe and tentatively pushed back his dark hair and began to dab at the bleeding on his head.

Poe winced and his hands clenched into fists.

"Do you wanna tell me what happened?" Finn said gently.  
"I got in a fight. With some jerks from my high school. Unfortunately, they all came to the same college and made more jerk friends." He sighed. "And just because I secretly dated one of them for a year, they think it gives them the right to do whatever they want."

"You dated one of those guys?" Finn raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. It was three years ago, I was just figuring things out!"  
Finn smiled sympathetically, "Still, they shouldn't call you names, though."

"I know. They're just jerks. Screw 'em, I don't care what they think of me."  
Finn put the towel down on his lap. "You should be alright now."

"Thanks, man."  
"Welcome."

Poe was so close he could feel his warm breath on his face, and he started to lean closer, his eyes moving over Finn's face, his lips parted. Then a loud and very indignant squeal came from inside the bathroom.

Poe stood up.

"BB-8?"

Another squeak.

He opened the door and the cat came running out, very indignant about being shut in the bathroom even though he had gone in there himself in the first place.

"I should have a shower," Poe said, stretching.  
"O-okay." Finn stammered, standing up too.

A strangely knowing smile appeared on Poe's face. "I'll be out in a minute."

Finn almost collapsed on the floor the second the bathroom door closed.

He had just finished doing some deep breathing, BB-8 sitting beside him looking confused, when the bathroom door opened again.

Poe strode out, rubbing his hair with a towel, another one wrapped around his waist. When he smiled at Finn he was staring straight ahead, BB-8 on his lap, batting at one of the toggles on his hoodie with his paw.

Poe stretched and mentioned casually "Hey, I heard the dorms are gonna be getting pizza for everybody if you wanna go down soon and check that out."  
"Sure," Finn said shortly.  
"I'll just get dressed." He reached down for a pair of jeans.  
"Right."

Finn grabbed the towel he'd used to tend to Poe and disappeared into the bathroom with it. He sat down on the lid of the toilet and stared at the ceiling.

Calm down, calm down, calm down.  
Why couldn't he have gotten dressed in the bathroom? Why?!

There was a knock on the door.  
"Finn," He could hear the smile in Poe's voice. "You can come out now."


	2. The Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn meets Rey and it's love at first sight, but things don't go according to plan. However, Poe and BB-8 are there to console him. (fluff fluff fluff)
> 
> Rey gets a new tutor, he's a bit of an emo but he seems nice. Ish.

Chapter 2

After a couple of days, classes started up for the new year. 

Finn found out that Poe was an English major and admired the stacks of books he kept bringing back from the library. Finn was undeclared so he decided to go to a few different classes to see what he liked. One of his first classes was Advanced Mathematics. When he arrived the professor nodded at him and everything seemed to be going smoothly but then with a jolt he recognised the glaring boy from the other day. He was sitting with earphones in, writing intensely in his notebook even though the class hadn't even started yet. Once the class did actually begin, the teacher didn't hesitate. She jumped straight in at a breakneck speed. Finn could barely keep up and couldn't help but notice that the dark haired boy's hand kept shooting up to answer or to question something the professor said. 

About half-way through the class, the door creaked open at the back of the hall. A girl walked in and said something to the teacher in an apologetic voice. 

As she walked down the steps to a spare seat in the lecture hall, Finn stared at her in amazement. 

"Wow, she's pretty."

Laughter broke out in the hall.

Wait, had he said that out loud?! Oh no. Oh god, no!

The girl sat down quickly in embarrassment as Finn grabbed his bag and ran from the room, the other students' laughter ringing in his ears. Poe was very sympathetic when he told him about it that night and he suggested that they go out to a party to try and take his mind off of it.

"I haven't been to many parties before," Finn said nervously.  
He'd been to none, in fact, but he didn't want to sound like a loser.  
"It'll be fine!" Poe clapped him on the back. "Don't worry about it, man. We can just have a few drinks and relax."

Poe seemed perfectly relaxed at the party, giving little half-salutes to people and getting him and Poe drinks. Finn drank his beer quickly and hoped nobody could tell he was sweating heavily. 

"Oh no."  
"What is it?"  
"That's her."  
"The pretty one?" Poe asked.  
Finn nodded, clutching his beer in suddenly trembling hands.  
"Go talk to her."  
"What?! No way!" He said, horrified, "She already thinks I'm a complete idiot."  
"Look, she's smiling at you."

Finn looked up eagerly then turned back around, disgruntled.

"No, she's not! She wasn't even-"

"Go on! Go talk to her!" Poe pushed him in the direction of the girl and before he had a chance to protest or run away, he was right in front of her.

"Haaave you met Finn?" Poe asked, then rushed off to greet a cute hipster that had just walked in. 

"Hi," said Finn, trying not to let the nerves show in his voice.  
"Hi Finn," she smiled, taking a sip from her bottle of coke. "Nice to meet you."  
"Nice t-to meet you too," He took a quick swig from his bottle.  
"I'm Rey."  
"That's a nice name."  
"Thanks." 

They made polite small talk for half an hour or so. Rey was an Engineering major and she complained about the fact that the school was assigning her a tutor to give her extra help with Maths because her old school hadn't covered it very well. 

"Wow, that sucks."  
"I know! And it's not even my fault, it was my old school that didn't teach it properly!"

Finn swallowed nervously, "Um... Listen, Rey, I know we just met and all but do you maybe wanna... wanna go out some-"

She looked down at her drink, embarrassed, "Um, Finn, you seem nice and all but I'm not really looking for any kind of relationship right now. Sorry."  
"Oh... okay."  
"It'd be fun to be friends, though."  
"Sure."  
"See you, then," She touched his hand gently and disappeared.

Finn turned and walked back towards where Poe had last been seen, in a daze. Someone came past with a tray and stopped him.  
"Hey, man, you want something?"  
"Huh?"  
"Tequila shots," The guy grinned.  
"Okay."

Poe wandered into the back room an hour later, the hipster's phone number tucked into his back pocket, in search of Finn. He found him, sitting on the floor, surrounded by cushions. A couple of people were sitting around talking, some smoking or drinking.

"Finn. Hey, Finn!" Poe shook him gently.  
"Poe?"  
"You alright, man?" He sat down beside him.  
His voice was so pathetic, "No."  
"What happened?" He asked softly.  
"She rejected me. I asked her out and she flat out said no way."  
Poe winced, "Jeez, that's rough."  
"So this guy gave me these nice drinks and then I came in here and made some new friends."  
He smiled, "That's great, Finn but I think we should be getting back to the dorm. It's pretty late."  
Finn nodded in agreement.  
"BB-8 must be wondering where we are," Poe grinned and stood up.

"He's so cute," He said, almost to himself, standing up too and swaying dangerously forwards.  
Poe grabbed Finn quickly and held him up. "Me and him got a lot in common, right?" He chuckled.  
"Yeah, totally." He said, nodding sincerely.  
He was quite taken aback, and when Finn stumbled over the front door Poe held him up a little closer than before.

When they reached their room, BB-8 was lying on Finn's bed, curled up in a circle, fast asleep. He didn't even wake up when Finn crashed down beside him.  
Poe made sure Finn was lying on his front before going over to his own bed and sitting down.

He took the cute hipster guy's number out of his pocket and looked at the scrap of paper in between his thumb and forefinger. 

With a sigh, he crumpled it into a little ball and tossed it into the trash. 

* * * * * 

About a week later, Rey went for her first session with her new Maths tutor. She'd been instructed to meet him in the library, and after some searching, she found the place.  
It was a gorgeous building, all high ceilings, massive windows letting in plenty of natural light, and towering shelves of books covering topics from asexuality to zoology and beyond. He saw her walking uncertainly around, the sunlight pouring in and shining on her hair, tied back in strange three buns at the back of her head. She looked up and saw him sitting there at the desk, books around him, a seat beside him pulled out and saw the recognition flash on her face. 

"Hello," She said quietly as she sat down.  
"Hi."  
"Are you Kyle?"  
"Kylo Ren," He sounded a little exasperated as if this happened a lot, "Here's the syllabus."

As they worked, Rey kept catching him staring at her obviously. When he was caught, he would cough loudly and look at his phone awkwardly. 

Suddenly his phone rang loudly: "When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band..."

He swore quietly, excused himself and leapt from his chair and walked away to answer it.

"Hux, why the hell are you calling me? I told you I was busy.... Yeah... Yeah, I'm with her... What?! No! Shut up! ... I'll see you later, alright?"

He came back over and sat down. After a minute, the old grandfather clock chimed. Rey checked her phone, and stood up. 

"Same time next week?" Rey asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Okay, see you then." 

Kylo watched her walk away then instantly took out his phone and texted Hux.  
"Tell everybody. We're having a party."  
He replied: "When?"  
"ASAP."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brownie points if you get the reference in Kyle's ringtone. You are emo trash just like me.  
> And the How I Met Your Mother reference in there too?
> 
> Also, I just want to make sure that people don't think I'm making it seem like Rey is in the wrong for rejecting Finn. Obviously, it's her own choice and she shouldn't feel bad for not being interesting in Finn (within the context of this fic). 
> 
> Let me know what you think anyway, and if/how I should continue


	3. Another Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn finally decides on his major, so the gang go out to celebrate. Unfortunately, a certain maths tutor has a little too much fun and causes a lot of embarrassment, and an English major wants to have some fun but causes some heartbreak.

Chapter 3

A loud miaow woke Finn. He jumped, "It was Stalin's fault!"

Poe laughed. "What?"

He spun around in his chair. "Oh, it's you. You scared me."

"Sorry. BB-8 was just really excited to see you."

The chubby ginger and white cat jumped onto Finn's lap and went up on his hind legs to nuzzle his chin.

"Does this mean you've finally decided on your major?" Poe grinned. 

"Yep," said Finn, scratching BB-8 between the ears. "History. With a bit of classics as a minor thrown in for the hell of it."

"Nice. Why'd you go for that in the end?"

"At the academy they didn't really teach us much about the outside world, so I think it'll do me good to learn about it."   
"That's a nice idea," Poe leapt up from his bed. "I think we should go out to celebrate!"

"You always think that," Finn smiled teasingly.  
"Yeah, but this time we've been invited to a party."

"Who even is hosting this thing?" Finn shouted over the noise of the music.

Poe took the opportunity to get up close to talk in his ear, "These guys Kylo Ren and Hux."  
He took an uncomfortable drink of beer, "Dammit."

Poe dragged his eyes up to Finn's with some effort. "What is it?"  
"Those two were head boy and deputy at the academy."  
"Shit, really?" Poe took a gulp of beer.  
"Yeah, they were pretty terrifying, to be honest."  
"Were!" Said a voice in a sardonic tone.

Finn's face felt hot instantly. It was Rey.

"Hi. You know Kylo?" Poe smiled, offering her a drink.  
She took it and sipped, "Kind of. He's my maths tutor."

Finn blurted out, "That must be pretty bad!"

Rey glanced over at the figure standing brooding in the corner, "I'm surprised he's not started playing Evanescence yet."

"I can't believe you threw this entire thing just for her. She's just some engineering major who can't even do maths," Hux said, coming over and standing beside Kylo.  
"She's good at math, okay. She's really talented, I can tell."  
"I think you're just hoping she's talented at-"  
"Hey!" He turned and glared at the other boy. "Don't talk about her like that."  
"You're the one who's too scared to talk to her at all," Hux rose up and stared straight back.  
"Fine."

With a sweep of his dark coat, Ren had disappeared, leaving Hux standing there breathing hard.

Rey, Poe, and Finn found a quiet corner to sit and talk. 

Finn managed to get over his awkwardness a little with the help of his beer, but Poe kept an eye to make sure he didn't overdo it like last time. 

"So, how do you two know each other?" Rey asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"We're roommates," said Poe, "but there was also an incident with my cat."  
"You have a cat? In college? Isn't that kind of impractical?"

"BB-8 is very independent. He crashed into me and ran away, that's how me and Poe got introduced," Finn said with a grin.  
"I'd love to meet this cat sometime."   
"I'll go get him!" Poe jumped up enthusiastically.

"Oh you don't have to, I-" Rey tried to insist but he was already bounding away back towards the room.   
"I've been thinking about getting a cat flap for our door so BB-8 can run about."   
She laughed, "That's a good idea. Poe really seems to like that cat."  
"Yeah, they've been through a lot together. He's had him a long time and he's quite attached." 

Soon enough, Poe returned with BB-8 wrapped around his shoulders like a fluffy shawl. Instantly he attracted the attention of many fawning people, mostly girls but there was one boy with glasses and perfect hair who seemed very interested. 

Eventually, Poe made his way back over to them, but not before having an intimate conversation with the boy, and handed the cat to Rey.

"Oh, hello!"   
BB-8 squeaked and purred in response.   
"He's adorable!"  
Finn smiled while simultaneously thinking *why don't you think that about me???* but he shook himself. *No, don't be that guy. Get over yourself.*  
"You guys have fun with him, bring him back the room later, okay Finn?"  
He nodded.  
"Alright, I'll see you later."  
And with that Poe walked off to go talk to glasses boy.

BB-8 provided some entertainment, playing with Rey's hair and rolling around squeaking, but Finn kept being distracted by Poe over in the corner. 

The suddenly he felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. The boy had leaned in and kissed Poe, who responded eagerly, moving his hands to his waist.

Rey saw Finn's devastated expression and followed his gaze over to the pair as they left together.  
"Are you alright?" She asked, moving closer to him on the couch as BB-8 curled up on her lap.   
"It's just-" he sighed and gestured, his words failing him.   
"I know, I know... how about I get us a few more drinks, okay?"  
"Okay." He mumbled pathetically.

Rey moved BB-8 onto Finn and went over to get another two beers for him and herself.

As she was about to walk back, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around and Kylo Ren was standing there, swaying a little on his feet.   
"Hi Rey," he said, leaning way too close to her. 

She pulled a face at the strong smell of alcohol on his breath, "Hi."

"How are you doin' tonight, sweetheart? You doing good?"   
"I am fine, thank you."  
He laughed, "Yeah, you are... you are *sooo* fine."  
"Great, well I should-"  
He lurched forward and grabbed ahold of her shoulders, "Wait! Don't go!"  
She tried to shrug him off. "Stop it, let go of me!"  
"You're so pretty, Rey, I really like you. You're so-"

He stopped, his eyes suddenly huge, and threw up all down Rey's front and on her shoes. She closed her eyes in disgust while people around them groaned and wrinkled their noses, some taking out their phones and snapping pictures and videos.

Hux grabbed Kylo and pulled him away from Rey, muttering apologies to her as he led the dark haired boy away. 

Finn saw the whole thing and came hurrying over, the cat under one arm. He took Rey by the arm and lead her outside.  
"Are you okay?" He asked when the common room door closed behind them.   
"That was so disgusting. He is so disgusting, I-"  
"Where's your room?"  
"Down there. 1138."

Rey opened the door and Finn let BB-8 run in, sniffing all about him. 

Rey went straight to the bathroom and then they sat on her bed, while Finn mopped at her shirt with a towel.   
"Do you know what, I should just change my clothes," She said and stood up. 

Finn looked away as she peeled off her white shirt, long tan cardigan, soft brown pants, and black boots, and pulled on a dark hoodie and grey shorts. She let her hair down out of the bun and sat back down beside Finn. 

Then she sighed and lay down. Awkwardly, Finn thought it might make her uncomfortable to lie down beside her so he lay upside down on the bed, with her feet near his neck and vice versa. 

"So, you like Poe, don't you?" Rey asked after a minute.  
Finn blushed, "What makes you think that?"  
She smiled, "You look at him like he's the sun anytime he's in the room, you're super jealous of him going off with that other guy, and you're blushing."  
"How can you tell?"   
They were both staring up at the ceiling.  
"I can feel how hot your face is."  
"I suppose your feet aren't all that far away," He found himself starting to laugh, in a drunk, silly way and this set Rey off and they lay there laughing like children, watched by a confused BB-8.

Rey sat up, "Why don't you go tell him how you feel?"   
"What? Now?!"  
"Yeah! Now!"  
He scratched the back of his head, "I don't know, he's probably busy..."  
"It'll be fine! You like him, go on!"  
"Okay!" 

Finn grabbed the cat, hugged Rey and set off back towards his room. 

He had just reached 2187 and had been practising what he was going to say all the way there, when the door was opened and the boy with the glasses walked out.

"Oh, sorry," He said, and stepped to the side, walking away down the corridor with a smile on his face, with his hair a little less perfect than it was before.

Silently, apprehensively, as if he was slowly deflating like a bouncy castle, Finn walked into his room.

Poe was lying on his bed, one arm stretched up behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.  
"Finn, hey," He looked up when he walked into the room, followed by the cat. 

He covered himself with his sheets, turning onto his side to look at him.   
Finn sat down on his bed, trying to hide his emotions as best he could, and trying not to look at his roommate's tousled hair.

"What happened?" Poe asked, seeing a hint of something on the other boy's face.  
"Kylo threw up on Rey," Finn said shortly and walked quickly into the bathroom to get changed, and to get into his bed as quickly as possible so that he could turn out the light, and not have to look at the untidy covers of the other bed any longer.


	4. Rey's Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey confronts Kylo and it doesn't go exactly as planned, but with hilarious consequences. Her first Engineering class is taught by a strangely familiar, and snarky professor. Just wait until she meets the Dean!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter's a little short (and really really delayed) i was having some trouble logging into my account but i think it's all sorted now so i should hopefully be updating more regularly! 
> 
> P.S who else is hyped for Rogue One??!!!

Finn woke up the next morning and, to avoid having to hear Poe talk about the previous night's exploits, he took out his phone, put his earphones in and logged onto Facebook. 

He'd added Poe a while ago and most of the friends that he had added, and Rey, of course. Suddenly his timeline was filled with pictures and videos of the incident with Rey and Kylo. 

The likes kept increasing, and a slow-motion video came up. Finn had to look away. He saw that Rey was online and messaged her quickly.  
"Don't look on your timeline!"  
She replied, "Why not??"  
"You don't want to see what's on there."  
"Okay... Meet for breakfast?"  
A second message beeped, making BB-8 flinch in his sleep, "More like brunch actually."  
"Sure," Finn messaged back. 

He got up and pulled on some clothes. Poe seemed to have fallen back to sleep so he didn't worry about him seeing anything. 

When Finn reached the food hall, he was grabbed by the shoulder and instantly dragged back out again. He saw it was Rey and looked around at a group of people who were laughing and making puke sounds at her. 

"Sorry, I had to get out of there," Rey said when they'd reached the stairs. "Those people were being idiots."  
"Are you okay?" Finn asked, looking at her with concern.  
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just sort of lost my appetite, that's all," she smiled weakly and just on cue, Finn's stomach rumbled loudly.  
She laughed, "You better go get some food!"  
"Where are you going?" Finn called as she started away off up the stairs.  
"I'm gonna go find that idiot Ren and sort this mess out."  
"I'll come with you."  
"No! You go get food, it's more important than this stupid drama!" Her voice echoed down the stairs as she jogged up them and Finn sighed and went back in to satisfy his noisy stomach. 

Five minutes later, Rey knocked on the door of Kylo and Hux's room. She knew what the room number was because Kylo had told her it during one of their study sessions, he'd said that she could come round any time if she needed "help with school work" but she knew what he really meant after his confession the previous night.

Hux came to the door, and Rey was surprised to see he was shirtless.  
My god, he's pale, she thought.  
"Can I speak to Kylo?" She asked, her fury coming out clearly in her voice.  
He looked embarrassed on his friend's behalf, "Yes, I'll go get him."  
He walked back into the room, and she heard him yelling at Kylo to get himself out of bed and apologise to the poor girl standing outside.

After a minute the dark haired figure appeared at the door, his hair frantically tied back. He leant against the door frame in a pathetic attempt to look cool and casual, "Hey."  
"Hey, yourself," She spat angrily.  
"Why are you so mad? Look, about last night, but I was really drunk and I didn't know what was going on," Ren put up his hands defensively.

"Everyone is talking about it, there are videos online!"  
"What are people saying?"

"Not good things," She took a step nearer, making him visibly tense, and lowered her voice, "Listen, I came to this school to learn and work, not draw attention to myself and you are not helping."  
"It's not my fault if people are saying things," He said haughtily, "I can't control them."  
"Yes, but you could at least apologise."  
Ren raised an eyebrow, "I don't see why I have to!"  
"You-!"  
Rey made a shocked, furious noise, then stamped on his foot, hard and stormed off down the corridor. 

Later on in the dining hall, Finn and Poe had arranged to meet Rey for lunch. Rey was pretty starving after not having any breakfast, so she was shovelling some pasta into her while Poe jokingly asked how things had gone with Kylo Ren.

"Come on, spill!" He laughed.  
"Ee as uh imp," Rey answered with her mouth full.  
"What was that?" Finn said, grinning.

Just then, the man himself walked through and the three of them watched as he made his way to the front of the line, bought a coffee and then left, all the while limping comically on his left foot. The second he'd gone, they burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, his face!"  
"I got a picture," Finn showed them his phone.  
"Send that to me!" Poe and Rey both said in unison, which prompted even more laughter.

* * * * *

Rey walked into her first class of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering 101, excited because she knew this was what she wanted to do.

"Alright chumps, settle down," said a man as he walked onto the podium.  
He picked up a piece of chalk and wrote his name on the board as he spoke, "My name's Han, but you can call me Professor Solo."  
A ripple of chatter went through the class in recognition of the name. 

"Now, can anybody tell me what is the difference between a shaft engine and a reaction engine?" He asked, looking around the room for hands up.

A boy in the second row raised his hand and the professor nodded at him; "One has a single row of cylinders, and the other has fixed cylinders and a revolving crankshaft."

"No, wrong. That's a radial engine," Han said, holding back an eye-roll.

Rey raised her hand and spoke when he pointed at her, "Reaction engines generate the thrust to propel an aircraft by ejecting the exhaust gases at high velocity from the engine, the resultant reaction of forces drives the aircraft forwards, and shaft engines use a manual process and typically rely on water-cooling."

Han looked impressed for a split second, "Good. What's your name?"  
"Rey," She said.  
"Alright, Rey. Not bad."

The looks she got from the others in the class were a mixture of jealousy and amazement at such high praise. Rey was able to walk out of the class with her head held high.


	5. Roommate Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe takes Finn to a club but things take an unexpected turn. Well, maybe not that unexpected.
> 
> Rey is left homeless for the night and has to head to the last place she wants to be.

Chapter 5

The tutoring sessions between Kylo and Rey that followed that day were awkward, to say the least. 

Finn kept running into Poe's friend coming out of their room, and he brought him to lunches occasionally. Rey and Finn sat awkwardly exchanging looks while Poe and the boy, who was called Mark, chatted, cuddled and fed each other ice cream. 

One night, however, Poe came out of the bathroom, wiping his face with a towel.   
"We should go out," He said.  
Finn's heart leapt, "What? Where?"  
"My favourite bar," A grin spread across his handsome face, the sort of grin that made the younger boy nervous.   
"Is it near?"   
"Kind of, yeah."

Poe came back over to Finn, two glasses in his hands.   
"What's this?" Finn asked as he took the glass of red liquid.  
"A Cosmo," The other man grinned, and downed his drink, "They were just giving them out over there."  
He shrugged and knocked it back.

"It's very noisy in here," He remarked.  
"What?" Shouted Poe over the loud music.   
Finn stepped closer, "I said, it's really noisy in here!"  
Poe put his hands on his shoulders and started to dance with him, "Yeah, it is!" 

He led him by the hand, towards the centre of the dance floor, "We might as well enjoy it, though!"  
Finn laughed at some of the ridiculous moves of the other people, mostly men, as Poe spun him around and around...

Meanwhile, Rey was lying on her bed, flicking through one of her textbooks, when her phone buzzed. She picked it up, and saw a text from her roommate Yasmin.

"I'm bringing a friend back to the room so u'll probably wanna leave pretty soon"

"Oh, shoot," Rey muttered. "Now I've got to find somewhere else to sleep."

She got up, closing her textbook and wandering over to survey herself in the mirror. She scraped her brown hair back into a top knot, rubbed her green eyes and smeared a little lip balm on her lips. She shoved the old t shirt she usually slept in into a duffle bag along with a hairbrush, toothbrush and a couple of books. 

First stop, Finn and Poe's room. Rey hammered on the door of 2187.   
No answer.   
She tried again.   
Nothing but a faint sleepy sounding miaow, presumably from BB-8. 

Sighing in frustration, she got her phone out of her bag and called Poe. Straight to voicemail. She called Finn. He answered after four rings.

Finn felt something vibrating against his leg. Poe felt it too, he was dancing so close, and smirked for a second until he saw him pull his phone out of his pocket. Damn, he thought he was onto something there...

"Rey?" Finn said loudly, putting his hand over his other ear to try and hear her better, as he attempted to get away from the thumping music.  
"Finn, where are you? I need somewhere to sleep tonight!"  
"What? I can't hear you!"  
"I said, I need to-"  
"Sorry Rey, it's too loud, I can't hear. I'll call you back, okay?"   
"Finn!" 

The line went dead.

"Everything okay?" Poe asked.  
"It was Rey."  
"Is she all right?" He was concerned. After what had happened with Kylo both boys were worried he might try something else. Finn knew from his past how unpredictable he was.  
"I think so. I'll text her. What if she's-"  
"Fine. I'll call her."

Poe disappeared from view, heading back away from the speakers with his phone in his hand. 

"Rey?"  
"Poe, hi."  
"Are you okay?" The concern is his voice was clear, even over the phone and with the loud music in the background.  
Rey let out a long sigh.  
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Go back to Finn," She said, "Enjoy your night."  
"You're sure?"  
"Completely. Have fun," She paused and managed to smile, "Safe fun."  
This made Poe laugh, "I promise I'll be gentle."  
"It's more him than you I'm worried about, to be honest."  
"He'll tell you everything tomorrow, I'm sure of it."  
She chuckled, "You're not wrong."

 

"Hey," Poe put a hand on Finn's arm, making him look from the hand back up to his face, "She said she's fine, okay? How about another drink?"  
Finn hesitated, then nodded.

After a couple more drinks, Poe grabbed Finn's phone out of his hand and shoved it in his back pocket.

"Oh, come on!" He complained, but was too nervous to reach for it.  
"No way, man. You need to get over her and quit worrying so much." Poe said firmly, if with a little slurring.  
Finn carefully got to his feet, "I'm going to the bathroom."  
"It's over on the right at the back," Poe pointed. 

He stood at the sink, staring at himself in the mirror, reflecting the bright pink walls around him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two other men come in, and head into a cubicle. As Finn splashed his face with cold water in an attempt to sober up, a lot of noises started coming from the cubicle, so he awkwardly edged out of the bathrooms, back into the music. 

Poe instantly reappeared and pulled him back onto the dance floor. This time, his hands went to Finn's waist, and he came so close their foreheads were touching. Finn breathed in. He smelled so good; like the ocean, strong liquor, and before he knew what was happening he had pressed his lips against Poe's. Hard at first, full of passion and excitement, then slowly softening and becoming sweet and gentle. When he pulled away, his head was reeling and he smiled, which turned into a laugh, which made Poe laugh and the two of them were giddy with the sudden release in tension and rush of joy and nerves all at once. 

Meanwhile, Rey was in a sticky situation. There was only one possible place for her to spend the night, and it was not really appealing to her. With reluctance and fatigue making her every step heavy, she dragged herself to the room and knocked on the door. When it opened, Rey instantly regretted every decision and action in her life that had led up to this point. 

Kylo Ren stood there in boxer shorts and an Escape the Fate t-shirt, his pale, hairy legs on full display to the whole world.

"Oh god, okay... I need a place to stay." She said, eyes wide in horror and looking anywhere but at him.   
"Why?" He looked down his nose at her, eyes narrowed suspiciously. 

"My roommate is having sex in our room."

Kylo's cheeks flushed a little but he tried to remain looking haughty. 

"Fine. Come in."


End file.
